Secret Ballot Watch

Since it was first conceived, the so-called Employee Free Choice Act has received much attention about its ability to set aside a worker’s right to a secret ballot. Indeed, this very series was created, in part, to highlight why the secret ballot needs protection.

But there are other dangers lurking in this legislation.

Another part of EFCA equally troubling to workers, scholars, and activists is the act’s power to force government contracts on businesses that can’t reach agreement with the newly formed union within 120 days.

Legal expert Richard A. Epstein explained how it works in a March essay for The Washington Times: 

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“Here is what the key provision says: Once mediation has failed, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service ‘shall refer the dispute to an arbitration board established in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed by the Service.’ The arbitration decision then binds the parties for two years.

“For the layman, here is what it means: An outpost of the Labor Department, the mediation service, will set the terms of all new labor contracts in the United States. It will do so under provisions that are undefined under the act. The FMCS will have sole authority to pick the arbitration panel, which will have the power to draft, on its own initiative, detailed contract provisions, tables and appendices that can run to more than 1,000 pages. The arbitrators' decision will be final: The EFCA allows neither employers nor unions to appeal arbitrators' decisions to a neutral judicial body. …

“As government arbitrators dither in deciding on terms for that initial two-year decree, the global competition will hobble the firm's economic prospects, leading to massive losses and job layoffs.”

Epstein, “Mandatory Labor Arbitration,” The Washington Times, 03.24.09 

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“Massive losses and job layoffs” are not words you want to hear at anytime – but especially during a lengthy recession like the one America is in right now. Although they don’t get as much attention, forced government contracts are equally as bad as removing the secret ballot. It’s just another reason why EFCA must fail.

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